Syrian entrepreneur in Turkey develops a mobile app for refugees

Google invited Syrian entrepreneur Mucahid Akil to a developer conference in US in beginning of last year. But his visa was rejected because of his passport.

A Syrian refugee, Mucahid Akil, has launched his own enterprise and developed a mobile application to help the Syrian community in Turkey. October 5, 2017. (TRT World/Screencapture)
TRTWorld

A Syrian refugee, Mucahid Akil, has launched his own enterprise and developed a mobile application to help the Syrian community in Turkey. October 5, 2017. (TRT World/Screencapture)

Mucahid Akil is among thousands of young Syrian entrepreneurs who have started businesses in Turkey.

Living in Turkey's southeastern Gaziantep province, Akil has launched his own enterprise and developed a mobile application, Gherbtna, in 2014 to help the Syrian community in Turkey.

He created a platform that helps Syrian refugees get easy access to information in Arabic.

Google invited him to its annual developer conference in San Francisco in the beginning of last year.

But he says he was denied a visa for the United States in the beginning of 2016, because he's a Syrian refugee.

“I knew that just my personal information will make them refuse my application,” he said.

“You just imagine a guy who was born in Saudi Arabia, grew up in Aleppo and now married to an Iraqi woman.”

TRT World’s Ahmed al Burai has more on Akil's story from Gaziantep.

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